The venerable Jim McKay, for years the host of ABC's Wide World of Sports, is the host-narrator of the DVD, which was one of McKay's last gigs. A small number of classic sports events, mostly from the 80's, are encapsulated in this short documentary, which clocks in at under an hour. Among the highlights:
*1979 Cotton Bowl: From the way the late Lindsey Nelson described it on that New Year's Day, it might as well have been Ice Bowl II, as future Hall of Famer Joe Montana leads Notre Dame past Houston.
*Stanford vs. California, 1982: Everyone knows the ending of this one. After John Elway led the Cardinal on what seemingly was a game winning drive, Cal takes the ensuing kickoff the full distance, unwittingly aided by the Stanford marching band.
*1980 US Hockey "Miracle on Ice": All that was missing was Al Michaels' long-remembered game ending call in the Gold Medal game.
*1946 World Series: St. Louis vs. Boston: Enos Slaughter scores all the way from 1st to win the championship for the Cardinals.
*1951 Giants-Dodgers playoff: "The Shot Heard 'Round the World". 'Nuff said.
*1980 Wimbledon men's final: Bjorn Borg's drive for five culminates in a 5-set thriller vs. John McEnroe.
*1972 Olympic basketball final: The Russians needed 3 extra seconds, and, supposedly, some excuses, to beat Team USA for the Gold Medal. Suffice to say, the hockey semi-final 8 years later provided some sweet revenge.
Understandably, the producers had to encapsulate everything, but they overdid it, in this writer's estimation. I remember seeing some of the Borg-McEnroe match, the Cotton Bowl, and the hockey. I think most of us would've liked to have seen more of the older baseball games (paging MLB Network!). The footage of the Giants-Dodgers game has been used on similar specials for years, making announcer Russ Hodges just as iconic as the game itself. The presentation, then, fails to live up to the text in the book.
Rating: C-.
*1972 Olympic basketball final: The Russians needed 3 extra seconds, and, supposedly, some excuses, to beat Team USA for the Gold Medal. Suffice to say, the hockey semi-final 8 years later provided some sweet revenge.
Understandably, the producers had to encapsulate everything, but they overdid it, in this writer's estimation. I remember seeing some of the Borg-McEnroe match, the Cotton Bowl, and the hockey. I think most of us would've liked to have seen more of the older baseball games (paging MLB Network!). The footage of the Giants-Dodgers game has been used on similar specials for years, making announcer Russ Hodges just as iconic as the game itself. The presentation, then, fails to live up to the text in the book.
Rating: C-.
No comments:
Post a Comment